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Tom Stubbs: Talking Trousers

What happened when the Chelsea footballer Joe Cole, the celebrity photographer Rankin and the British menswear institution Burton came together? This fashion image, that’s what. Cole is not very tall, but he looks like a heroic campaign model in his Burton two-button pinstripe (£99).

Burton has been revolutionising the way men buy suits since it introduced off-the-peg ranges at the beginning of the last century. Montague Burton was a Lithuanian immigrant, but his small clothing enterprise went on to provide demob suits for the British army (hence, some say, “the full monty”, which referred to a three-piece suit). Back then, footballs were hard and made of brown leather, shorts were long and goalies smoked Woodbines in between free kicks. Nowadays, although footballers are rich and have plenty of time to shop, they dress like mugs. Cole, however, looks almost Richard Ashcroft-like in his Burton garb.